A glyph 's an element of writing. Two or more glyphs representing the same symbol, whether interchangeable or context-dependent, are called allographs; the abstract unit they're variants of's called a grapheme or character. Glyphs may also be ligatures, that's, compound characters, or diacritics. Etymology The term has been used in English since 1727, borrowed from glyphe in use by French antiquaries (since 1701), from the Greek γλυφή, glyphē, "carving," from the v… (More on Glyph)